At W Hotels, “each designer is asked to pick up some clues from the location and to take a contemporary, cool viewpoint on it while adding their own creativity,” says the firm’s global brand leader, Eva Ziegler. Burdifilek’s take on the surroundings, when commissioned to design the interiors of the first W Hotel and condominium complex in downtown Atlanta, was to create a modern interpretation of a park oasis in the centre of the financial district.
The entryway draws guests in through a lush garden wall to the double-height lobby, which features a serpentine, hand-sculpted solid walnut wall. Suspended above the reception and check-in area, a shimmering mobile made of hundreds of metal leaves, inspired by a tree canopy, reflects glints of light onto the charcoal-coloured stone floor. A 22-foot-high water feature, culminating in a luminescent onyx reflecting pool, soothes. In the Living Room bar, a feature of W properties worldwide, bentwood screens and curved seating encourage guests to feel at home in the urban jungle.
Upstairs, the suites (Single, Double, Loft, Wow and Extreme Wow) are decorated in mulberry, teal and deep indigo, Macassar wood and glossy acrylics.
Design team: Diego Burdi, design director; Paul Filek, managing director; Merrill Fung, project manager; Tom Yip and Jeremy Mendonca, senior designers; Mariko Nakagawa, William Lau and Helen Chen, designers; and Jacky Ngan, Anna Jurkiewicz, Edwin Reyes and Maria Kakarantza, CAD production